Statement from Secretary Spellings on National Charter Schools Week

President Bush proclaimed the week of April 30-May 5, 2007, National Charter Schools Week. Recognizing the dedicated efforts of our nation’s charter schools to improve student achievement, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and other Department officials will visit charter schools across the country this week to applaud their commitment to excellence in education. Secretary Spellings today issued the following statement:

Our nation’s charter schools are serving over a million students, empowering parents, and improving access to quality education in America. This week is an opportunity to highlight the role of charter schools as innovators and educational entrepreneurs.

Traveling around the country, I’ve had the opportunity to visit many charter schools, sit in on classes, talk to students and teachers, and witness the types of innovations that are changing the way we approach education. These schools are dispelling the myth that some children can’t learn. By acting as laboratories for best practices, they are changing attitudes about education and they’re getting great results for kids.

Charters are also transforming urban education and tackling head-on our nation’s stubborn achievement gap. They are proving that new approaches to education can work—that breaking tradition and taking risks can yield tremendous results for students.

Through the groundbreaking No Child Left Behind Act, President Bush and I have supported a robust expansion of school choice options for students and parents, helping to pave the way for greater access to charter schools. Since 2001, the President has invested $1.4 billion in the Charter Schools Program to facilitate start-ups and spread clear information about successful schools and provided over $262 million for charter school facilities. We will continue to support charter schools as they strive to help students achieve their potential.